Design of the bionic wheel surface based on the friction characteristics of ostrich planta

On the sand environment, the wheel surface as the key component of the interaction between vehicle and sand plays a crucial role in improving the vehicle’s trafficability. African ostrich runs in the desert all year round, and its excellent plantar friction characteristic is obvious. In this paper, a bionic wheel surface monomer was designed based on the structural characteristics of the papillae of ostrich planta and the geometric morphology of ostrich planta, and the structure of the wheel surface monomer was optimized by the discrete element method (DEM) numerical simulation. The simulation shows that the wheel surface monomer model 2-2-2 can generate greater pressure with sand, and the particle movement range is larger. Then through the friction test of four kinds of wheel surface monomers, it is found that the friction of the bionic wheel monomer A on the sand was the largest. Finally, the DEM models of the wheel with the bionic wheel surface and the wheel with conventional wheel surface were established. The wheels simulation shows that the soil thrust of the bionic wheel is 113.4% greater than that of the conventional wheel. The above research showed that the bionic papilla structure greatly improved the friction performance of the wheel surface. Moreover, the combination of the bionic protrusions and the bionic wheel surface profile designed based on the geometric morphology of ostrich’s planta can play a better role.